Definition and Benefit

Harmonized System or usually referred to as HS is a list of goods classification list made systematically for the purpose of facilitating tariff, trading transaction, transport and statistic which has been improved from the previous classification system. Currently, the classification of goods in Indonesia is based on the Harmonized System and is applied in a list of tariff called Indonesia Customs Tariff Book - Buku Tarif Bea Masuk Indonesia (BTBMI).

Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System or better known as the Harmonized System was developed in 1986 by a study group of Customs Cooperation Council (now known as the World Customs Organization), and was passed in the HS Convention, signed by seventy countries, mostly European Countries, but now almost all the countries involved have ratified, including Indonesia which ratified through the Presidential Decree no. 35 Year 1993.

The purpose of HS, among others, is:

• Provide uniformity in the classification of systematic goods list.
• Facilitate the collection of data and statistical analysis of the world trade
• Provide official international system for coding, description and classification of goods for trading purpose.